Staud takes a Stab at Pickleball

The Quick Points

🏥 Can’t handle the heat, stay out the kitchen. We have to kick off with probably the most shared piece of content in the amateur pickleball world over the past 24 hours. If you haven’t seen the headlines yet, UBS analyst Andrew Mok put out a report estimating that pickleball injuries are burdening the healthcare system with $250M - $500M in medical expenses, annually. Other key estimates from UBS:

• Nearly 80% of the expenses are for outpatient treatment, with Medicare covering 85% of the medical bills (tracks with the demographic of the sport and avg. age for injuries).

• Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly 80%+ of pickleball-related injuries are among those 60 years and older.

• UBS estimates that there will be 66k+ ER visits and 366k outpatient visits from pickleball this year…compare that to an estimated 34k ER visits due to pickleball from 2010-2019 total.

We spoke with an owner of a physical therapy clinic on the west coast, and they had the following to say:

• Saw 3 Achilles ruptures from pickleball in the past two weeks.

• Age is a significant factor, as your flexibility decreases materially over time.

• People tend to see it as an easy game, so they don’t properly warm up, but then get injured by the explosive small movements required during competitive play.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on whether any health insurance companies alter premiums for different age demographics if injuries are a persistent and material contributor to treatment costs.

🛒 Get the people going. While pickleball is the talk of the town and courts are limited, there’s no better way to bring hundreds of people to a physical site than a pickleball tournament. Patriot Place, the large open-air mall near Gillette stadium, just had 200 paying players competing on 9 PickleRoll courts in their parking lot.

A new Boston based pickleball experiences company called Eleven-0 was responsible for facilitating the 4 days of play (mixed, doubles, social, lessons).

What’s on our mind 

👗 Staud takes a stab at pickleball with accessible fashion for the court. Staud Apparel, an LA-based fashion brand, recently launched its “pickleball inspired” court line. We are no experts when it comes to sporty unitards and skirts, but the looks are certainly fresh and pop with color. It feels like the ideal aesthetic for Beverly Hills and Montauk pickleball outings and one of the first trendy brands we’ve seen put this at the front and center of their collection. The large athletic apparel brands all need to launch a pickleball apparel line because it fits their core offering and makes sense to have a small horse in the race. Oftentimes though, it seems like a slightly tweaked version of their tennis clothes, as these larger brands likely don’t care to invest the time, labor, digital & physical real estate, and money into a highly specific vertical of athletic apparel. However, for more culturally in-tuned brands to make a bet that their existing demographics (or a demographic they hope to capture) are into pickleball is noteworthy to us. It is undoubtedly a more material financial decision for these brands to design something outside their core offering, hold inventory, and market it on limited digital & physical shelf space. Also cool to see them collaborate with Recess on their paddle. Recess is definitely the elevated private label collaboration partner of choice for apparel and consumer brands.

💼 Work in pickleball full-time. That is a common aspiration these days but making it happen is another story. It was fun to come across a real opportunity to get in the mix at Franklin Sports with this Director of Pickleball Partnerships role. Tell ‘em we sent you 🙂

🏟️ Haven’t seen this before. Usually, the concrete floors below the stadium bleachers are filled with patrons looking for beers and hot dogs. Welp that all changed when Geodis Park, the stadium for the Nashville MLS team, hosted a pickleball night with dozens of courts on the concourse. Very creative implementation from a big-brain staff member.

🇰🇪 Court time in Kenya. The Nairobi Pickleball Club launched last month with four beautiful courts atop the roof of a mall. New courts in new geographies feel like a seed being planted that will soon start to spawn a fresh community full of friendships, competition, and fun. We remain excited seeing all the international expansion as we’ve covered recently in Australia, Uganda, China, and Sweden.

Breaking Ground

The Reset is beginning to track publicly available court construction data to keep track of locations, costs, and development projects across the nation. Our tracker can be found here.

Featured Developments:

Big week for private ventures…

Ace Pickleball Club announced further expansion plans with another 30+ franchises being sold throughout the U.S., in AZ, CA, FL, IL, IN, NY, and PA. The company is quickly growing to become one of the largest premier fitness facilities across the country, alongside the likes of The Picklr and Life Time. This franchise expansion is also impressive, given the model went public this past February. The Company expects 5 new clubs to cut the ribbon by year-end, with another 40+ coming online in 2024. We can’t wait to go give this facility a try.

The greater Scottsdale, AZ area is getting another entertainment facility, with the expansion of Georgia-based Pickle and Social planning to open a location. Pickle and Social concepts typically offer players 10+ indoor & outdoor courts, restaurants, bars, dedicated event space, and a ‘green space’ for activities like Cornhole, spike ball, giant Jenga, and other family-focused games. Pickle and Social is part of a portfolio of eatertainment venues owned by Competitive Social Ventures. The firm is clearly executing a fairly repeatable playbook across sports & social activities that have similar demos, cost structures, and operating models. Their portfolio also includes Fairway Social (golf) and Roaring Social (live music).

Carneros Resort and Spa opened two new pickleball courts next to its Veuve Clicquot Champagne Bar & Lounge. These courts are complimentary to hotel guests and can be reserved by the general public with the purchase of a food & beverage package. This continues to play into the themes we’ve been covering of non-pickleball native hospitality brands utilizing the sport to draw greater foot traffic to their core offerings due to its social and group-oriented nature. See our prior coverage of large hotel brands leveraging demand for the sport to bring in new revenue opportunities.

Charlotte, NC is getting a new pickleball entertainment complex starting tomorrow. The latest venture is Rally Pickleball, an 8 court (4 indoor / 4 outdoor) facility, which also offers guests access to a full-service restaurant, two cocktail bars, and a specialty coffee bar. From our look at the pictures, it seems like Rally has a slightly more upscale feel, with fewer ‘family games’ that we’ve seen at other facilities, instead leaning into things like higher-end aesthetics, premium cocktails, and lounge spaces. The facility will offer leagues, classes, pay-to-play bookings, and private events.

Volli Entertainment is opening a pickleball sports bar in Marysville, Washington, which will offer four courts, golf simulators, darts, an arcade, Cornhole, and TV screens for sports viewing throughout the complex. The founder, Allan Jones, previously made his name in trampoline parks, so he brings some interesting background to an entertainment-focused facility.

Best of the Rest:

• Cities see pickleball as a core builder of community. Lakefront Park in Fox Lake, IL broke ground on a massive $12.5M development to bring a wide range of community amenities to its residents. These include two pickleball courts, an amphitheater, upgraded beach accommodations, a playground, beach volleyball courts, and a boardwalk. This project has been in development since 2018…with pickleball making the cut.

• Back Creek Park city council in York, VA approved the conversion of two tennis courts to six pickleball courts. The project was awarded for $109k and should be completed this summer.

• Chaplin Community Park in Hilton Head, SC was part of the latest city council discussion where they agreed to build 24 new pickleball courts as part of a 111 acre development which will also include 580 parking spots, 6 tennis courts, a 5 multi-use fields.

• Crane Park in St. Helena, CA opened four new courts alongside a range of other outdoor activities (volleyball, tennis, skatepark).

• Ballantine Park in Southbury, CT opened four new courts, payed for by ARPA funds.

• Not exactly ‘construction’…but Botetourt County, VA opened three courts in a local elementary school gym.